Taliban Ministry of Higher Education denies all denominations other than Hanafi

The Taliban’s Minister of Higher Education has claimed that “denominations don’t exist in Afghanistan”, and that “all Afghans are adherents of the Hanafi” school of though.

Neda Mohammad Nadeem made these sectarian statements in a meeting held in one of the eastern provinces of Afghanistan.

Last year, Nadeem had rejected the appeal of the Shia Ulema Council of Afghanistan to include the “Jafari Jurisprudence” in the university curriculum.

The Taliban official claims there is only one denomination in Afghanistan where a considerable portion of the country’s population are Shiites.

Scholars and Shiites of Afghanistan have accused the Taliban many times of violating religious rights and freedoms.

The Taliban government has invariably adjusted its policies and practices based on its own interpretation of the Hanafi religion, and has imposed restrictions on some religious rituals of the Shiites.

The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development wrote in a statement in August this year that the Taliban has banned the freedom of religion and belief for Shiites and Hazaras.

Although Taliban officials had claimed that they respect all denominations in Afghanistan, experts and citizens believe that the fundamental components of the group’s ideology go against non-Sunni denominations, especially the Shia.

Recently, a copy of a book written by Noor Muhammad Islamjar, the governor of Taliban in Herat, became public. In a part of this book, he described the Shiites as a “takfiri sect” and “partners of the infidels throughout history.”